Connelly puts Harry Bosch back to work

Michael Connelly started his career as a newspaper reporter, eventually working as a police and crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times. While there he covered the 1992 riots, a time and place to which he returns in "The Black Box," his just-published thriller.

Michael Connelly book signings

Saturday: 10:30 a.m. at Book Carnival at 348 S. Tustin St. in Orange. "A special surprise" is promised for the first 300 customers. You must buy the book from Book Carnival and pre-ordering and pre-paying is encouraged. Call 714-538-3210.

Who's your Harry?

Connelly told us he could see someone like Kyle Chandler, an Emmy winner for his role in "Friday Night Lights," as Harry Bosch. A year ago, he'd mentioned the same thing about Billy Burke of the "Twilight" movies and ABC's "Revolution." Fans, of course, have their own thoughts, which include:

Chris Cooper: An Oscar winner for "Adaptation," Cooper has the laconic lawman style down pat.

Clive Owen: The star of movies such as "Children of Men," he's a Brit but then so is Hugh Laurie and "House" turned out all right.

Josh Brolin: The star of "No Country for Old Men," "W." and "Milk" has a handsome rugged look you could see in a TV detective.

Russell Crowe: He won Oscars for "Gladiator" and "A Beautiful Mind," but is he too big of a movie star to do TV?

As Michael Connelly sat down to write the book that became "The Black Box," he realized that this new thriller was his 25th book in 20 years as an author. Nice round numbers, they got him thinking of way to mark that anniversary with this latest story starring LAPD detective Harry Bosch.

"It led me to thinking I'd like to write a story that spanned 20 years," says Connelly, who comes to Orange County for book signings in Orange and Huntington Beach on Saturday and Sunday. "And if you go back to 1992, when my first book was published, it's hard to find anything to grab your attention more than the riots.

"I was still at reporter (at the Los Angeles Times) at the time, and covered the riots, so I had my own experiences that were connected to this," he says. "So that's what I decided to do."

"The Black Box" begins in the spring of 1992 when Los Angeles burned in the aftermath of the acquittal of LAPD officers in the beating of Rodney King. Bosch is called to the scene of the murder of a Danish journalist that in those wild days of rage and violence goes unsolved. Twenty years later, he's working cold cases when he returns to that case, one that long had lingered in his memory, and starts to work it again.

In a way, that's what Connelly did here, too, mining the past and the stories that haunted him for material for this new mystery.

"When I was a journalist I did some follow-up on some of the murders after the riots, and a couple of them, they've always stayed with me, the mysteriousness of them," he says.

The Bosch factor

"The Black Box" is the 18th of Connelly's books to feature Bosch as its relentless protagonist and that's a bit of a blessing and a curse, Connelly says.

"It's easy because some of the things are already set," he says. "But it's also hard because you've got to find the new things. To make the character evolve you have to also dig into the past and find new things and put new obstacles in front of him, and I've used a lot of obstacles already.

"It's like putting on an old comfortable coat that you've had for years. It feels good and all that, but you have to find stuff in the pockets that's good and interesting, too."

a new theme

Jazz has long been the soundtrack to the Bosch books; its melancholy melodies seemed to fit the detective's moods, Connelly decided. But now the love that both author and character share for a semi-obscure saxophonist named Frank Morgan has spun off into "Sound of Redemption," a documentary film about Morgan for which Connelly is executive producer.

"I knew I was going to write about this character (Harry Bosch) who had to overcome a lot of personal and professional obstacles, so I was looking for musicians who could match that story, who had overcome a lot themselves," he says.

"And very serendipitously there was a story, I believe it was in Time magazine, about the return of Frank Morgan. About how there had been 35 years between his first album and his second album, and how the 35 years were mostly spent in prison.

"I got the album and it really touched me," he says. "I felt this link between Bosch and this music and his redemption."

Michael Connelly started his career as a newspaper reporter, eventually working as a police and crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times. While there he covered the 1992 riots, a time and place to which he returns in "The Black Box," his just-published thriller.
"The Black Box" is Michael Connelly's 25th book in 20 years of writing. It's also the 18th to star his LAPD detective character Harry Bosch. Connelly comes to Orange County for book signings this weekend.
Authors Michael Connelly, left and T. Jefferson Parker attend a memorial for longtime friend Ed Thomas, 77, of Orange, the owner of Book Carnival when he died in February 2010. Connelly returns to Book Carnival, now owned by Anne Saller, for a signing Saturday. On Sunday he'll be in Huntington Beach at Barnes & Noble for a similar event. CHRISTINE COTTER, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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